The jersey hadn’t seen daylight in close to 10 years. It was still deprived of that when it finally made its way out of the closet for a cloudy afternoon at Midway Stadium.

The rain hadn’t started yet Saturday when Jonathan Penn, 38, shook the hand of Daunte Culpepper. The former Vikings quarterback was standing in the dugout, taking pictures and signing autographs for attendees of a celebrity softball charity event put on by Celebrity Sweat and hosted by the St. Paul Saints.

Penn, a New Prague resident, was with his three young children, none of whom seemed to have much interest in the Vikings’ only multi-Pro Bowl quarterback of the century.

Ten years ago, Penn bought a No. 11 jersey, because he has always bought the jersey of his fantasy football draft first-round pick.

In 2004, Culpepper’s career year consisted of a league-best 4,717 passing yards and a Vikings season record of 39 touchdown passes. His combined 5,123 passing and rushing yards broke Dan Marino’s record. He made his third, and final, Pro Bowl.

Penn won his fantasy league.

And on Saturday he got that jersey signed.

All throughout the crowd, there wasn’t another of its kind in sight.

“Now,” Penn said, “it’s almost a throwback.”

Culpepper left his last game as a Viking in Week 6 of 2005 with three torn ligaments in his right knee. He was traded to the Miami Dolphins for the next season after an ugly contract negotiation clash went public.

Surgery on that same knee shortened his one season in Miami, and he never reclaimed his Minnesota success with the Oakland Raiders or Detroit Lions. His NFL days were done after the 2009 season.

“It’s sore, man, sore,” Culpepper said showing the scarred knee in the dugout Saturday. “Some days are better than others.”

“Will it affect your play today?” he was lightly asked before his team played former heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield’s.

“It definitely will, but I’m not making excuses, you feel me?” he said, sounding serious. “I’ll push through it. I’ll push through it.”

In a playful contest that featured a handful of Wild and NHL players, Team Culpepper lost.

Culpepper and his wife and six children moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after his try in the restaurant business fell short in Orlando. “Culpepper’s,” a sports bar he helped open near his University of Central Florida alma mater in August 2013, folded in January.

“There’s a reason 90 percent fail in that first year. It’s gotta be your baby,” Culpepper said. “It was great. It was a good experience, but I’ve moved on from it.”

Back in the Twin Cities for the first time since attending the final game at the Metrodome in December, Culpepper said he reflects fondly on his time with the team that drafted him 11th overall in 1999.

“I loved my Vikings days,” he said. “The people in Minnesota were great. I was lucky enough for seven seasons to play there and see a sold-out Metrodome every home game. That was huge to me.”

Not since Culpepper has the town seen the kind of stability he brought behind center for five-plus years. But that, he said, could change.

“The Vikings got a gem in the draft (in) Teddy Bridgewater,” he said. “I love (Matt) Cassel’s game. Teddy’s gonna learn a lot from him. (Christian) Ponder, he has a lot of ability as well.

“But the future is Teddy. He’s gonna be the guy. It’s just gonna be a matter of him maturing.”

Culpepper knew of Bridgewater when he was a dual-threat Florida high school prospect not unlike Culpepper himself. Culpepper was at the UCF game when Bridgewater completed 29 of his 38 passes for 341 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in a three-point Louisville loss.

“In college, he played the game so effortlessly, he made the game look so easy,” Culpepper said. “To do that, it takes skill.”

He said he offered advice to the 21-year-old during the annual rookie symposium at the end of May.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing, man, just keep working,” Culpepper said. “I could see it in you, you’re a hard worker. Just play the game like you know how to play it, and take it all in. And love every second of it.”

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